Book Club

Book Summary:Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Luminstruct Review: Good to Great was an amazing way to start the 2018 year for Book Club! Although not specifically designed for Student Affairs professionals, Collins and his team created this book to ensure almost any organization could substantially improve its structure and performance. The book creating an easy to follow framework for companies, departments, and programs to take their good organizations and make them great! By taking a closer look at various organizations which performed remarkably better than other organizations in their given field, the Good to Great team were able to pinpoint the specific qualities which set them apartment from the other organizations. Collins and his team do a remarkable job using graphics, concepts, and analogies to further illustrate the points trying to be conveyed. Various staples included identifying your "hedgehog concept", making sure you have the right people on your bus, and making sure you get your team on the "Flywheel" and not the "Doom Loop". Each chapter is easy to follow and has a summary at the end of each chapter to review the concepts discussed. We especially enjoyed that the team were humble enough to have sections specifically designed to discuss unexpected findings at the end of each chapter as well. Unlike other books we have reviewed, Good to Great does a good job taking data and research and simplifying the results in an easy to grasp way. Although the novel looks longer than previous books reviewed, almost 100 pages are used for the raw data, various notes, frequently asked questions, and an index to allow readers to dive deeper into the research if they so choose. We would highly recommend reading this book and would also recommend listening along to the audio book as well since Collins has added other notes after the book's ten year anniversary. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ratings:Goodreads: 4/5Barnes and Noble: 4.2/5Amazon: 4.5/5Luminstruct: 4.5/5Ratings Average: 4.3/5--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Month's Book:

Title:​The 5 Love Languages

Author:Gary Chapman

Intended Luminstruct Audience: Student/Student Leaders

Book Summary:In the #1 New York Times bestseller The 5 Love Languages, you’ll discover the secret that has transformed millions of relationships worldwide. Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman’s proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner—starting today.

Book Summary:This compact book presents leadership concepts in a new and exciting way. With lots of practical advice you can implement starting today, you can start to motivate your team, deal with change, and become a better leader now.

​Make your company a cherished favorite using insider advice delivered directly from the North Pole. Find out if your existing strategies are naughty or nice and unwrap easy-to-follow leadership secrets. Build an excellent reputation and motivate your company to achieve big things every year using the invaluable gifts of every team member.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Luminstruct Review: The Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus was a fun and quirky book. Consisting of chapters such as "Choose Your Reindeer Wisely", "Share the Milk and Cookies" and "Build a Wonderful Workshop", the book does a good job taking valuable topics in leadership and breaking it down in a simple way from the viewpoint of Santa Claus. There were many parts of this book which were creative when delivering the basic fundamental concepts of leadership and would recommend this book as an intro book for a student just starting out as a leader in a club or job position for the first time. With this being said, I believe there are stronger leadership books out there and the Christmas theme was distracting from the main principles of the book from time to time. Although not a bad book, with the combination of the entry-level leadership tips, the shortness of the book, and the quirky theme, we would probably leave this book as a stocking stuffer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ratings:Goodreads: 3.6/5Barnes and Noble: N/AAmazon: 4.4/5Luminstruct: 3/5Ratings Average: 3.6/5--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Month's Book:

Title:​Good to Great

Author:Jim Collins

Intended Luminstruct Audience: Mid-Level/Senior Staff

​Book Summary:Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards

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